Women’s Tennis Central: #15 Tennessee at SEC Tournament

Friday, April 21

Fayetteville, AR

3 PM CT / 4 PM

University of Tennessee

Kentucky

Women’s Tennis Central: #15 Tennessee at SEC Tournament

April 20, 2023 | Women's Tennis

Live Stats Live Stream

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Beginning its postseason journey, the No. 15-ranked Tennessee women's tennis team heads to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the 2023 SEC Women's Tennis Tournament.

The Lady Volunteers claimed the No. 3 seed in the tournament after a 11-2 record in Southeastern Conference play this year. Their season has been surrounded by history as 11 conference victories sets a program-record for single-season SEC wins. The 2023 season was also just the second time in program history the Lady Vols accumulated double-digit victories in conference play.

The last time Tennessee finished third or higher overall came back in 2011 when UT was tied for second with a 9-2 record. That year the Lady Vols hosted the SEC Tournament and made it to the championship before falling to Florida.

Day Two of the tournament wrapped up late Thursday night with a pair notable upsets. The No. 12 seed, Ole Miss, defeated No. 5-seeded Auburn in the first match of the day and 11th-seeded Kentucky topped the No. 6 seed, South Carolina. With that, the Lady Vols will take on Kentucky on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET.

Tennessee won its first matchup with the Wildcats, defeating UK, 4-2, in Lexington on March 12.

Live scoring for Friday's match can be found HERE, while streaming for the event is available HERE.

This page will be updated throughout the tournament.

HEAD COACH ALISON OJEDA
"Tournament time is always a special time for teams who have put the work in and believe in their ability to win. We certainly have put the work in and we believe. Now, there is one thing left to go out and do and that is compete."

CHECK IN ON THE CHARTS
With the now weekly Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings updates, the ranked singles and doubles pairings for Tennessee and their respective opponents can be found below.

Tennessee Lady Volunteers
Singles
#26 Elza Tomase
#27 Rebeka Mertena
#46 Daria Kuczer

Doubles
#40 Rebeka Mertena/Esther Adeshina

Kentucky Wildcats
Singles
#42 Florencia Urrutia
#118 Elizabeth Stevens

Doubles
#22 Carlota Molina/Elizabeth Stevens

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Kentucky (12-13) battled back to win on Thursday afternoon after dropping the doubles point to South Carolina. The Wildcats got victories on Courts 3, 4, 5 and 6 to take the victory, capped off by an Ellie Eades tiebreaker victory, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4), on Court 3.

Their two victories in the tournament snapped a six-match losing skid that UK was on entering the tournament. The Wildcats currently sit just one match under .500, a required benchmark to be eligible for postseason play.

Kentucky's top victory this year came on the road when it toppled Florida, 4-2, in Gainesville on March 19.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Friday's match marks the 50th all-time meeting between Tennessee and Kentucky. The Lady Vols currently lead the all-time series, 29-20. The two sides have only faced each other three times in the SEC Tournament and only one of those meetings came after 1990. That season was the same 2011 year where the Lady Vols made the tournament final – Tennessee kicked off its tournament with a 4-0 victory.

For all the latest information from Lady Vol Tennis, follow the team on Twitter @Vol_WTennis, Instagram @vol_wtennis or Facebook.